I 



THE 



Philosophy of Methodism: 



IN ADDRESS DELIVERED AUG. 16,. 1880, 



AT THE 



Cry st a 1 Springs Camp -lee t i n g, 



BY" THE REV. W. 0. BLACK, 

Of the Mississippi Conference, 



And Published by Request of -the Camp-Meeting Association, 



SOUTHEEN METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE. 

PRINTED FOB, THE AUTHOR. 

1880. 



THE 

Philosophy of Methodism: 



AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AUG. 16, 1880, 



AT THE 



Crystal Springs Camp-Meeting, 

BY THE BEY. W. 0. BLACK, 

Of the Mississippi Conference, 



And Published by Request of the Camp-Meeting Association. 



A* 



1880. 



rig 



NaftfjbUIt, ©tntr. : 
SOUTHERN METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE. 

PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 

1880. 



Jthe library 

lor CONGRESS 
I WASHINGTON 



SX.9 3^ 

.136 



CorYRiGHT, 1880, by W. C. Black. 



PRE FA CE. 



The Preface of this pamphlet is given on the title-page — 
"Published by request of the Camp -meeting Association." 
But for that request this address would never have made the 
acquaintance of the compositor, or even been embalmed in 
manuscript; for not a line of it, except statistics and quota- 
tions, was written previous to delivery. The address, as here 
written, contains a considerable amount of matter not em- 
braced in the spoken discourse; but most of this additional 
matter was in the original plan, and was omitted during 
delivery for want of time. The wood-cut is inserted for the 
gratification of personal friends. W. C. BLACK. 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF METHODISM. 



I suppose most of this audience are aware that, 
for some years past, it has been a custom of the 
Crystal Springs Camp-meeting Association to select 
some minister of our Church to deliver, during the 
exercises held annually on this camp-ground, an ad- 
dress on some phase of Methodist doctrine or polity, 
or some remarkable character or important event in 
Methodist history. In accordance with that custom, 
I have been invited to address you on this occasion. 
I have chosen as my theme — 

THE PHILOSOPHY OF METHODISM. 

'No idea is more universally prevalent, or indeed 
I might say, more certainly innate in the human 
mind, than the idea of causation. No proposition 
is more unquestionably axiomatic than this: "Every 
effect has a cause" And this holds good in the 
world of mind as well as in the world of matter. 
All mental as well as all material phenomena are 
effects whose causes it is the province of philosophy 
to endeavor to ascertain. Every great revolution, 
whether political, social, moral, or religious, has its 
producing causes, just as certainly as any motion 
among the molecules that compose any material 
substance. Methodism, then — the greatest religious 

(5) 



6 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 



movement of modern times, looming up suddenly 
before us in all the colossal grandeur of a great 
Himalaya range on the continent of modern relig- 
ious thought — necessarily excites in every philosoph- 
ic mind this inquiry: What are the mighty unseen 
forces that have produced this stupendous result? 
And inasmuch as superficial thinkers, reasoning 
from false premises, often arrive at erroneous con- 
clusions in regard to this matter, I deem it eminent- 
ly proper that I should avail myself of the present 
opportunity to present to this large and intelligent 
audience what I believe to be the only true answer 
to this important question. 

But, lest it should be supposed by some that I am 
dealing in sheer bombast, or unwarrantable pane- 
gyric, when I thus characterize Methodism as the 
greatest religious movement of modern times, I ask 
your attention to the following well-authenticated 
historic facts in regard to the origin, progress, and 
present status, of Methodism. 

Any attempt at a portraiture of Methodism, 
either in her spirit or her achievements, must begin 
with a delineation of the moral and religious state 
of England and America during the first half of the 
eighteenth century as a background. That this was 
an age of general irreligion and deplorable laxity 
of morals is the testimony of writers of every class 
— historians, novelists, poets, dramatists, moralists, 
and divines. Will you listen for a few moments 
while I read a few fragments of evidence on this 
point, gleaned from those fields of literature which, 
according to the universal judgment of mankind, 



The Philosophy or Methodism. 7 



are most likely to contain "the truth, the whole 
truth, and nothing but the truth?" 

Archbishop Seeker, one of the most distinguished 
and pious prelates of the English Church, says: "An 
open and professed disregard for religion is the dis- 
tinguishing character of the present age." 

Bishop Butler, the immortal author of the Anal- 
ogy, uses this language: "The chief distinction of 
the age is the avowed scorn of religion in some, 
and a growing disregard for it in others. Religion 
has become the principal subject of mirth and ridi- 
cule." 

Massey, the historian, says: "The stage was a 
school of immorality." 

Cowper, the sweet-spirited poet, says: "Among 
persons of fashion, conversation was almost anni- 
hilated by universal card-playing. Our people of 
quality scarce ever meet but to game." 

Knight, whose History of England has become a 
classic, says: "This was an age in which the decen- 
cies of life were very imperfectly observed." 

Arthur Young describes many of the Anglican 
clergy as "poachers, or fox-hunters, who, having 
spent the morning in scampering after hounds, 
dedicate the evening to the bottle, and reel from 
inebriety to the pulpit." 

Wilberforce, who stands in the very front rank 
of England's statesmen, orators, patriots, and philan- 
thropists, says that, during his pupilage at Cam- 
bridge, " the candidates for holy orders were as li- 
centious a set of men as can well be conceived. 
They drank hard, and their conversation was even 



8 The Philosophy of Methodism. 



worse than their lives. I was horror-struck at their 
conduct." 

Dr. Knox, the distinguished educator, says : " Some 
of the most distinguished coxcombs, drunkards, deb- 
auchees, and gamesters, who figure at the watering- 
places, and all public places of resort, are young 
men of the sacerdotal order." 

Dr. Morrison says: "The moral and religious de- 
fection was almost universal." 

Isaac Taylor, one of the brightest ornaments of 

English literature, says: "There was no thinking 

that was not atheistical in its tone and tendencv. 

■/ 

The Anglican Church was a system under which 
men have lapsed into heathenism." 

Now, when you remember that not one of these 
writers was a Methodist, that they are all men of 
high renown in the world of literature, ancf that 
testimony of this character might be multiplied a 
thousand-fold, you will have the means of forming 
something like a correct conception of the depths 
of moral degradation into which even the higher 
classes of English society had fallen. Just at this 
crisis, when "righteousness was hidden in secret 
places; " when skepticism and irreligion, with a mul- 
titude of low, vile, brazen - faced immoralities in 
their train, trod the earth like mighty conquerors, 
receiving homage from the titled gentry and the 
highest dignitaries of the most enlightened nation 
on the globe; when "it seemed to the faithful few 
as if the vials of divine wrath were almost full" — 
just at this crisis the sun of Methodism rose in full- 
orbed splendor above the horizon, chasing away the 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 



9 



deep darkness of that long moral night, and flood- 
ing the world with celestial radiance. To purify 
and revitalize the Anglican Church, and to reform 
and renovate English manners, English morals, and 
English religion, was the herculean and apparently 
hopeless task which John Wesley and his coadju- 
tors voluntarily assumed. That a design so grand, so 
beneficent, so godlike, should encounter opposition 
from any quarter, is one of the strongest proofs of 
the deep-seated depravity of the human heart. But 
opposition there was, and that of the most violent 
and malignant character. The stage, which was at 
that time a most potent agency in shaping public 
opinion, hurled at them its keenest shafts of wit, 
ridicule, and sarcasm. Pamphleteers and magazine 
writers exhausted the vocabulary of slang, vituper- 
ation, and abuse, to stir up popular indignation 
against them. Knight, in his History of England, 
says: "For forty years the light literature of En- 
gland overflows with ridicule of Methodism." Mag- 
istrates usurped authority to arrest, imprison, im- 
press into the army, and otherwise maltreat them. 
And, stranger than all the rest, the Church, through 
her constituted authorities, frowned upon them, 
drove them from her pulpits, and compelled them, 
if they would proclaim the glad tidings of salvation, 
to do so under the bending arch of the azure sky. 
Nor did they escape the diabolical fury of mobocracy. 
The rabble, instigated by Romish priest, or godless 
clergy, or government functionary, heaped upon 
them indignities and cruelties that ought to "make 
a demon blush. 7 ' Yet, undaunted by difficulty, in- 
1* 



10 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 



different to censure, regardless of peril, and inspired 
by a benevolence that knew neither limit nor 
barrier, these latter-day apostles labored on un- 
ceasingly, traveling in all sorts of weather, over all 
sorts of roads, preaching every day in field, cottage, 
prison, or almshouse, meeting classes, organizing 
societies, visiting the sick and imprisoned, founding 
schools, building churches, writing for the press, 
and doing a hundred other kinds of evangelistic 
work. A "plain, unvarnished" account of the toils 
and sufferings, achievements and triumphs, of this 
modern apostolic band, sounds more like romance 
than reality. Just think of one man preaching 
forty thousand sermons; traveling, before the day 
of steam-transportation, and mostly on horseback, 
two hundred and fifty thousand miles — ten times the 
circumference of this great earth; writing, or com- 
piling, two hundred volumes for the press; conduct- 
ing a correspondence almost equal to that of a large 
mercantile establishment; settling family disputes; 
deciding cases of conscience of every conceivable 
kind; maintaining in all its freshness his wonder- 
fully extensive and accurate knowledge of the 
classics; " keeping himself abreast of the literature 
of the age," and, greater than all the rest, exercis- 
ing a minute superintendency over an ecclesiastical 
establishment that numbered at his death nearly 
eighty thousand souls! When we think of his 
preaching, we wonder how it was possible for him 
to find time to do any thing else but preach. When 
we think of his writing, we wonder how it was pos- 
sible for him to do any thing else but write. And 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 



11 



so of the whole round of his wonderful labors. 
Can the annals of the world furnish a parallel to the 
sublime grandeur of these heroic achievements? 
Amid such scenes as these the new-born ecclesias- 
tical babe was cradled and rocked. That she should 
have any thing like a rapid or vigorous growth 
against such fearful odds, is certainly wonderful; 
but that she should attain her present dimensions, 
is the marvel of the age. The measure of her early 
prosperity has been already partially indicated in 
the statement that she had gained nearly eighty 
thousand converts before her founder's death. Con- 
cerning her subsequent history, and her present 
status, figures can speak more eloquently than any 
words at my command. Although only a little over 
a century has elapsed since Methodism gained a foot- 
hold on American soil, yet she numbers to-day no 
less than 3,517,000 communicants. The number of 
Methodists in the world is 4,811,000. These figures 
include only bona fide members. It is estimated by 
a very careful and painstaking statistician that the 
number of persons in the world who are Methodists 
in principle, though not actual members of the 
Church, will swell this aggregate to 23,325,000. 

The number of pupils in Methodist Sunday- 
schools in the United States is 2,823,000. 

I have not the statistics at hand to enable me to 
give a resume of the missionary operations of all 
the different Methodist organizations in the world, 
but will call your attention to those of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, she being numerically the strong- 
est of all the families of Methodism. The mission- 



12 The Philosophy of Methodism. 



ary contributions of this Church for 1879 were 
$551,859. And this is below her general average. 
For fifteen years past her contributions to this 
cause have been more than $600,000 per annum, 
not including the princely sums raised by the Wo- 
man's Foreign Missionary Society. She has upon 
her pay-roll no less than 3,379 missionaries. Nor is 
she the most liberal of the Methodist Churches. 
The Wesleyan Methodist Church, with a member- 
ship only about a third as large as that of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, raised in 1879 for 
missions $845,000, besides raising in the past two 
years a thanksgiving fund of about a million and a 
half of dollars. In addition to this, she raised, in 
1879, for various benevolent purposes, about $430,- 
000. This gives an aggregate of about two million 
of dollars raised in 1879 for benevolent purposes by 
this comparatively small Methodistic body. (These 
figures, of course, do not include ordinary Church 
expenses, such as pastor's salaries, etc.) Yet these 
Churches of which I have spoken are only two out 
of twenty-four different Methodist organizations. 

The colleges, universities, and other institutions 
of learning, belonging to the Methodist Episcopal 
Church alone, aggregate 145. The Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, South, has 95. This gives an aggre- 
gate of 240 for these two Churches. When you re- 
member that there are twenty-two other Methodist 
Churches, you will have an idea of what Methodism 
is doing for the cause of education. The college 
property of the Methodist Episcopal Church alone 
is worth $11,560,000. 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 13 



The number of Methodist periodicals in the world 
(exclusive of Sunday-school publications) is 159, and 
some of them are more widely circulated, and more 
extensively read, than any other religious periodicals 
published on this continent. 

The Book Concern of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church was established in 1789, w T ith a borrowed 
capital of $600. At present it has a net capital of 
$1,526, 939, after having sustained in 1856 a loss by 
fire of $250,000, and paid out for various purposes, 
per order of General Conference, $1,938,000. The 
legitimate profits of this Concern in the last forty- 
three years have been nearly three and a half mill- 
ion of dollars. "This is an achievement without 
a parallel in the history of religious, benevolent, or 
ecclesiastical, publishing establishments." 

This Concern publishes books in the English, 
French, German, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Danish, 
Greek, Anglo-Saxon, and American Indian lan- 
guages. The New York Book Concern of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church issued, during the year 
1879, 727,150 books and 1,333,000 tracts, making 
an aggregate of 1,860,000 books and tracts. This 
makes an average of 2,376 books and 3,702 tracts, 
or 6,708 of both books and tracts, published every 
day in the year. The number of pages of books 
printed by this Concern in 1879 was 155,125,333. 
The number of pages of both books and tracts was 
159,348,333. This makes an average of 520,345 
pages per day. Remember that these figures do 
not include periodicals of any kind, nor do they in- 
clude any of the publications of the Western Book 



14 The Philosophy of Methodism. 



Concern — itself a very large and flourishing pub- 
lishing establishment. 

The New York Book Concern alone has issued 
in the last ten years 21,845,168 books and tracts, 
containing 1,199,093,558 pages. 

Now, when you remember that these figures rep- 
resent only a part of the publications of one single 
branch of Methodism, and that there are twenty- 
three other Methodist organizations, each of which 
has its own publishing interests, you can form a 
faint idea of the number of persons there are in the 
world who read Methodist literature. 

The numerical strength of the leading Protestant 
Churches in the United States at the present time 
is as follows: Methodist, 3,517,000; Baptist, 2,656,- 
221; Presbyterians, 897,758; Congregational, 375,- 
654; Episcopal (including Reformed Episcopal), 
321,367. By a comparison of these figures, it will be 
seen that the Baptist Church has a little more than 
two-thirds as many members as the Methodist; the 
Presbyterian, about a fourth as many; the Congre- 
gationalist, a little more than a tenth ; and the Epis- 
copal, not quite a tenth. According to the United 
States census for 1870, the number of church-edifices 
belonging to the leading denominations in the 
United States is as follows: Episcopal, 2,601; Con- 
gregational, 2,715; Catholic, 3,806; Presbyterian, 
7,076; Baptist, 13,962; Methodist, 21,387. The 
census shows that the Methodists own about one- 
third of all the church-edifices in the United States. 
These were the figures in 1870. During the ten 
years that have since elapsed, the Methodist Episco- ' 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 



15 



pal Church alone has built new and additional 
churches at the amazing rate of nine per week — 
more than one per day. Hence, as several other 
branches of Methodism are also growing rapidly, 
it is almost certain that the census for 1880 will 
very largely increase this percentage. Just in this 
connection it should be remembered that the Bap- 
tist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Congregational, and 
Catholic Churches, were all in existence in this 
country for more than a hundred years (and some 
of them a hundred and fifty years) before Method- 
ism had a single minister or convert on American 
soil. 

The population of the United States in 1777 was 
about 3,000,000. The number of Methodists in the 
United States at that time was 6,968. Thus, at that 
time, only about one person in every five hundred 
was a Methodist. At present, estimating the popu- 
lation of the United States at 50,000,000, one per- 
son in every fourteen is a member of the Methodist 
Church. And counting those who are Methodists 
in creed, though not actual members, the percent- 
age is increased manifold. Perhaps one - sixth 
would be an underestimate. The above figures 
show that, while the population of the United States 
has increased during the last century about sixteen- 
fold, Methodism has in creased her numerical strength 
more than five-hundred-fold. " Methodism gained 
nearly three times as many members to its Com- 
munion in its first century as the Apostolic Church 
did during its first century. 7 ' 

But the success of Methodism, as an evangelistic 



16 The Philosophy of Methodism. 

agency, is not by any measured by her numerical 
strength — her spiritual results are far more than 
commensurate with her ecclesiastical boundaries, 
Under the potent influence of her illustrious exam- 
ple of apostolic zeal and heavenly fervor of piety, 
the Anglican, Scottish, and Dissenting Churches, 
awoke from their long somnolency, ceased after a 
time to ridicule her methods, girded on " the heav- 
enly armor/' grasped " the sword of the Spirit," un- 
furled the blood-besprinkled banner of redemption, 
went forth to battle with "spiritual wickedness in 
high places," achieved glorious success on a hundred 
well-fought fields, and entered upon a career of true 
spiritual prosperity never dreamed of in all their 
past history. "Virtue has gone out" of her to ev- 
ery Christian sect that has "touched the hem of her 
garment." Does this statement seem to you to have 
the ring of exaggeration? Then listen while I read 
you w^hat candid-thinking men in other Commun- 
ions have to say on this subject. 

Dr. Morrison says: "The Church of England re- 
ceived a mighty and hallowed impulse from the 
organization of Methodism. Methodism has also 
told with prodigious effect upon all the movements 
of the Dissenting Churches for the good of mankind. 
It did much to bring on the great missionary crisis 
of the Church." 

Cecil says: "Multitudes of genuine Christians 
could attest that, under whatever denomination they 
now proceed, they owe their first serious impressions 
to the Methodists." 

A distinguished Presbyterian divine uses lan- 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 17 



guage like this (I quote this from memory) : " Meth- 
odism was called and elected of God to infuse new 
life into the Presbyterian Church, and she has made 
her calling and election sure." 

Knight, confessedly one of the most impartial of 
all historians, in his " History of England," uses the 
following language: "The Methodists produced a 
moral revolution in England, which probably saved 
us from the fate of nations wholly abandoned to their 
own devices." 

Dr. Tyng, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
says: "We -might as well forget the principles of 
liberty and truth we are endeavoring to disseminate, 
as to forget the influence of Methodism, and the 
benefits we have received thereby." 

Southey says: "I consider Wesley as the most 
influential mind of the last century — the man who 
will have produced the greatest effects centuries, or 
perhaps millenniums, hence." 

One of the strongest evidences of the extent, and 
power, and permanency, of the Methodist revival, 
is found in the fact that that same Church of En- 
gland, which, a little more than a century ago, drove 
our illustrious founder from her pulpits, now deems 
him worthy of a costly monument in England's 
grandest cathedral, among her greatest statesmen, 
orators, poets, warriors, philosophers, divines, and 
philanthropists. 

A Presbyterian writer of distinction says : " We 
must regard the rise and development of Methodism 
as the grandest fact in Church-history." Another 
eminent divine uses this language : " The rapid 



18 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 



spread of Methodism must ever stand among the 
greatest marvels of human history." 

To characterize Methodism as H the greatest re- 
ligious movement of modern times " is not, then, to 
deal in bombast or panegyric, but to state what is 
now recognized as a simple historic fact, by candid, 
well-informed men, of all creeds and Communions. 

The question, then, is one of no ordinary interest 
and importance: What are the causes that have 
produced this wonderful phenomenon? "Why has 
Methodism outstripped all her sister Churches? 
Why did not some one of those Churches that were 
in existence in America for more than a century in 
advance of Methodism grow to her dimensions, or 
even beyond? This question I now propose to an- 
swer. 

One word as to the method which I shall pursue. 
When an architect commences to build abridge, he 
first constructs several pillars some distance apart; 
and a person who had never seen a bridge, if he 
should be present just at this time, might ask, What 
connection is there between this pillar and that? 
But when the arches are constructed, and the bridge 
stands complete before his eyes, " a thing of beauty" 
and utility, then the connection between the several 
pillars, and their relation to the entire structure, are 
apparent. In like manner, I propose in the outset 
of this discourse to establish several separate and 
distinct propositions, which may at first appear to 
have no connection with each other; but if you will 
give me your patient attention, I promise, before I 
close, to construct an arch which shall bring these 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 



19 



several propositions into a vital connection with 
each other, and thus place before yon, not a con- 
glomeration of heterogeneous fragments of truth, 
but a structure, complete and symmetrical, though 
complex. 

I enunciate this as my first proposition: The testi- 
mony of consciousness is cm absolutely infallible source 
of knowledge. Man has several distinct sources of 
knowledge, viz.: The senses, testimony, reason, in- 
tuition, and consciousness. 

Consciousness is that power by which the mind 
takes cognizance of its own acts and states, and this 
cognition of the mind's own states and operations 
is its sole function. Of the extra-mental world it 
knows, and can know, nothing. All the knowledge 
we possess concerning the material world, or con- 
cerning any thing extrinsic to the mind itself, is de- 
rived from some other source. But while conscious- 
ness is thus limited in the sphere of its activities, 
yet, within its own domain, it sways an undisputed 
scepter, it brooks no infringement of its authority, 
it tolerates no usurpation of its prerogatives. 

To illustrate: There is a lonely, grief- stricken 
fair one, who has but recently committed to mother- 
earth the mortal remains of him around whom the 
warmest affections of her loving heart have long 
entwined themselves. Sow, as she sits here to-day, 
clad in the somber habiliments of widowhood, and 
with the unmistakable tracery of sorrow's fingers 
upon her visage, suppose you say to her, " Madam, 
your grief is purely imaginary ; you are really just 
as bright, joyous, and happy, as you ever were in 



20 The Philosophy of Methodism. 



all your life; you are laboring under a delusion, a 
mental hallucination." Could any amount of argu- 
ment, entreaty, or persuasion, induce her to believe 
this? You might pile up argument on argument, un- 
til you had made a pyramid a thousand times higher 
and more massive than old Cheops, and she would 
be no more affected by it than yon glorious orb of 
day would be affected by the efforts of a lunatic to 
blow out its light. Her only and all-sufficient reply 
to all your mountain-mass of learned, metaphysical 
nonsense would be, "I know better." Her con- 
sciousness testifies to her that her present state of 
mind is that of grief, not joy, and no power in the 
universe can shake her faith in the testimony of 
consciousness. Again, there is a man whose soul is 
stirred to its profoundest depths by a tempest of an- 
gry passion. As he stands with clenched fist, and 
pallid lip, and flashing eyes, meditating vengeance 
against his foe, can you calm that angry storm by a 
mere wave of the magic wand of logic? Will a 
syllogistic breath from your sophistical lips convince 
that man that he is pleased with all the world? Or, 
again, those tears of joy that gush warm and un- 
bidden from their fountain, and chase each other 
in rapid flight down the cheek of the pious mother 
as she clasps in her fond embrace her long-absent, 
first-born son — can any "words of learned length 
and thundering sound" dry up those tears and 
make that mother believe that her heart is en- 
shrouded in the dismal gloom of a starless night of 
sorrow? The tear of joy that moistens the eyelid, 
but is too modest to assume shape upon the cheek 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 21 



of the fair maiden, as she stands blushing at the 
hymeneal altar, and swears eternal fidelity to the 
chivalric soul at her side — say, Mr. Logician, has the 
sun of your reason sufficient potency to evaporate 
that tear, freeze those warm, God-given affections, 
and convince that blushing damsel that her heart 
has always been of the temperature of an Alpine 
glacier? Is a man under the influence of some low, 
sensual passion, or some high and holy aspiration, 
or is he borne aloft on Fancy's wing, far, far 

beyond the bounds 
Where stars revolve their little rounds ? 

Then, I ask, can you, by force of logic, or power of 
persuasion, or by any means whatever, make him 
believe that his state of mind is different from what 
it is? To all such interrogatories science, common 
sense, universal observation, and universal experi- 
ence, reply with an emphatic and indignant No! 
The truth is that, constituted as man is, he cannot, 
if he would, doubt the testimony of his conscious- 
ness. Moreover, to question the veracity of con- 
sciousness, would be to destroy the very possibility 
of all knowledge, for knowledge from any source 
can be utilized only as it comes within the grasp of 
consciousness. Destroy human faith in the testimo- 
ny of consciousness, and you envelop the whole vast 
universe of God, in all its realms of mind and matter, 
in the frigid, midnight gloom of universal skepti- 
cism. 

!No truth in psychology is more assuredly funda- 
mental than this: Consciousness is an absolutely in- * 
fallible source of knowledge. 



22 The Philosophy of Methodism. 



Having thus established my first proposition on a 
foundation as firm as the " Rock of Ages/' I an- 
nounce as my second point: The reliability of human 
testimony under proper safeguards and restrictions. 

I know that the value of human testimony, as a 
source of knowledge, has been very much minified 
and ridiculed by metaphysical skeptics of the Da- 
vid Hume school; but I know also that no one 
— not even those skeptics themselves — ever did 
really lose faith in human testimony. Of course, 
human testimony is sometimes false. No one ever 
denied that bad men, for selfish purposes, sometimes 
bear false witness. But society, through its prop- 
erly-constituted authorities, has certain criteria by 
which it tests the value of testimony, accepting the 
good and rejecting the bad; and after these tests 
have been applied, society always proceeds upon the 
assumption that human testimony is true. The 
verdicts of our juries, and the decisions of our 
courts — upon what basis do they rest? On what 
ground does the jury bring in its verdict of guilty 
against yon prisoner at the bar? By what warrant 
does the judge tear that so-called criminal away 
from the endearments of home — the society of a 
loving wife and affectionate children — and shut him 
up in a felon's gloomy cell, or consign him to a 
criminal's dishonored grave? Is not the action of 
both judge and jury based upon their faith in hu- 
man testimony ? Indeed, the reliability of human 
testimony is the chief corner-stone of the temple of 
justice — the very foundation on which the whole 
fabric of jurisprudence rests. The veriest tyro in 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 23 



the science of government knows that without tes- 
timony no man is convicted of crime. Destroy 
man's faith in human testimony, and you open the 
doors of our prison-houses, and deluge the world 
with fiends in human shape; you stop the machin- 
ery of government; you convert every man into an 
Ishmaelite, and send him forth into the world with 
his " hand lifted against every man, and every man's 
hand against him ; " you produce a state of anarchy 
which the human race could not long survive. 

Moreover, I ask the question, How do I know 
that beyond the briny deep there is a vast continent? 
that on that continent there are such countries as 
China, Japan, India, Egypt, Italy, Spain, France, 
Germany, England, etc.? And how do I know that 
in those countries there are such cities as London, 
Paris, Rome, etc.? How do I know any thing about 
the soil, climate, resources, and productions, of 
those countries, or the manners, customs, etc., of 
their inhabitants? How do I know that such per- 
sonages as Washington, Napoleon, Caesar, Alexander, 
Cicero, Socrates, Jesus Christ, etc., ever lived? I 
have never seen any of these persons or places, and 
yet I have no more doubt of their existence than of 
my own. Whence do I get this knowledge? Solely 
from human testimony. Deny the reliability of hu- 
man testimony, and you restrict man's knowledge 
to the narrow circle of his own personal observa- 
tion; you obliterate "at one fell swoop" more than 
nine hundred and ninety-nine thousandths of all 
his knowledge, and prevent the very possibility of 
civilization or high intellectual development. The 



24 The Philosophy of Methodism. 



man does not live who has no faith in human testi- 
mony. 

My next proposition is this : An assurance of the 
favor of God is a want of the human soul 

True, that want is not always felt. In the giddy 
whirl of pleasure's train, , and amid the bustle of 
life's multitudinous activities, or the din and roar 
of earthly passions, its voice is seldom heard. But 
let some dread catastrophe, some direful dispensa- 
tion of divine providence, arrest the march of busi- 
ness, and silence the voice of pleasure; let the man 
feel the icy touch of the grim monster upon his 
vitals, and as he stands face to face with a broken 
law and an offended God, as he hears the mutter- 
ing thunders on Mount Sinai's top, and catches the 
vivid lightning flashes of Jehovah's wrath, what is 
the one cry of his soul that rises high above all 
others? Is it not this? " O for an assurance of sin 
forgiven — an evidence of acceptance with God!" 

Nor is this the result of Christian training. 
What mean those bleeding victims and those smok- 
ing altars that I behold in all pagan lands in both 
ancient and modern times? Ah! they are the sym- 
bolism of this want of the human soul — the voice 
of this craving made visible to human eyes. 

In the next place, I announce it to you as a simple 
historic fact, that Methodism came into the world with 
this message upon her lips: It is the privilege of man 
in this life to have an inward assurance of the favor of 
God. 

This glorious, soul-gladdening, strength-inspiring 
doctrine, so clearly, so variously, and so emphatic- 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 25 



ally taught in the word of God, was so entirely lost 
sight of, even in Christian England, in the eight- 
eenth century, that John Wesley, familiar as he 
was with the religious literature of his age, lived 
in utter ignorance thereof until nearly thirteen 
years of his ministerial life had passed away. About 
this time, having come in contact with some pious 
Moravians, among whom the doctrine was pro- 
claimed as a truth of revelation, he examined care- 
fully his Greek Testament, and soon saw that this 
doctrine was there taught in. such manifold forms, 
and with such clearness and force, that he wondered 
why he had not found it before. At first he sup- 
posed this assurance to be a high spiritual attain- 
ment, realized by a few corisecrated souls just ripe 
for heaven, but not within the reach of ordinary 
mortals. A closer study of the word of God, how- 
ever, soon convinced him that an assurance of 
divine favor is the privilege of every pious soul; 
and on the 24th of May, 1838, this assurance be- 
came with him a realized experience. From that 
hour, when his "heart was strangely warmed" with 
the pulsations of this new-born joy, the doctrine of 
assurance became the distinctive peculiarity of his 
preaching. It was his constant proclamation of this 
so-called fanatical doctrine that first drew upon him 
the gaze of all England, and attracted such vast 
multitudes to his ministry. It was this that ban- 
ished him from England's pulpits, and brought upon 
him a storm of obloquy, scorn, and persecution, 
from the dignitaries of that great politico-ecclesias- 
tical hierarchy, the English Church. ISTor was this 
2 



26 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 



doctrine promulgated from the pulpit alone; the 
power of holy song was also utilized for its propa- 
gation. The hymns of John and Charles Wesley 
may be readily distinguished from those of almost 
all other sweet singers in Israel by the vein of joy- 
ousness that runs through them like a thread of 
gold. The key-note of the ministry of the Wesleys 
and their coadjutors is given in that hymn of Charles 
Wesley's, commencing — 

How happy every child of grace, 
WhoJcncws his sins forgiven ! 

What an exuberance of joy, what unearthly rapt- 
ure, is described in many of those glowing hymns! 

Tongue cannot express 
The sweet comfort and peace 
Of a soul in its earliest love ! 

Exults our rising soul, disburdened of her load, 
And swells unutterably full, of glory and of God. 

The bliss of those that fully dwell, 

Fully in thee believe, 
*T is more than angel-tongues can tell, 

Or angel-minds conceive. 

These are only specimens of the gems that flash 
and sparkle in that richest of all the mines of earth's 
religious literature — the Methodist Hymn-book. 

Again: not only was this doctrine of assurance 
propagated from the pulpit, and wndely dissemi- 
nated by means of holy song, but one of the perma- 
nent institutions of the Church was established in 
order to utilize it for the evangelization of the 
world. I refer, of course, to the Class-meeting. 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 27 



And now let us, in imagination, take our places qui- 
etly in the midst of a Methodist class-meeting. 

Some man of venerable appearance rises to speak. 
You recognize him as an acquaintance. You know 
him to be a man of tried integrity and unimpeach- 
able veracity, a man who commands the respect and 
confidence of the entire community in which he 
lives. With heaving breast, and tearful eye, and 
tremulous voice, and countenance wreathed in 
smiles, and all radiant with heavenly joy, he relates 
his experience. He declares that a change indescrib- 
ably great has taken place in his life, that the very 
warp and woof of his character has been renovated. 
He says that there was a time when he was under 
the absolute dominion of ambition, avarice, or some 
earth-born and time-bounded affection, and that then 
he had no love for God, and no delight in his law. 
Then, thoughts of God, and duty, and death, and a 
future life, were intensely painful to him: nothing 
would have rendered him more perfectly wretched 
than long - continued meditation on these high 
themes. Now, he declares that these earthly affec- 
tions, though not eradicated from his heart, are. held 
in entire subordination to a higher principle. He 
avers that the dominant affection of his soul, the 
ruling principle of his life, is love — love to God and 
man. Now, his very highest joys are found in the 
worship and service of his Maker, and in deeds of 
love to his fellow-man. And he is no longer terror- 
stricken when he beholds the ghastly, murderous 
visage, and hears the approaching footsteps of "the 
grim monster." Faith has plucked the sting from 



28 The Philosophy of Methodism. 



death, and robbed the grave of its victory. The 
life that lies beyond the grave, and stretches away 
into the unending ages of eternity, has far greater 
charms for him than the most en ravishing delights 
of fortune's most favored sons. He proclaims him- 
self the possessor of an inward peace that flows on- 
ward with the march of time as unruffled as the 
bosom of a mountain-girdled lakelet. He speaks 
of Pisgah-visions, and Tabor-experiences, that ele- 
vate the soul to those empyreal heights, where 
seraphs sing, and celestial breezes blow, and the 
soul is thrilled with those indescribable transports 
of joy that fire the hearts of the angelic hosts above. 

His story ended, one after another arises, until 
perhaps a score have spoken. The speakers differ 
widely in age, rank, temperament, native endow- 
ments, and intellectual culture; their modes of ex- 
pression are equally various, and each experience 
has, perhaps, some phases peculiar to itself. Yet 
all agree in one particular; all testify to the present 
possession of an inward peace, a heavenly tranquil- 
lity of soul, of which in former years they knew 
nothing. And testimony of this character is abun- 
dant as the waters of the deep. There are in the 
world to-day thousands — no, not thousands, but mill- 
ions — of persons in every walk of life, and df every 
grade of intellect, whose testimony accords most 
perfectly with that narrated above. And a great 
majority of them — I do not say all, for it has always 
been true that bad men " steal the livery of heaven 
to serve the devil in disguise," but a great majority 
of them— are persons of unquestioned probity and 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 29 



veracity — persons whose testimony would be re- 
ceived without discount in any court on earth. 

Now, what is to become of all this vast array of 
testimony? 0 Skepticism! thou first-born of Satan, 
thou twin-sister of sin, thou mother of hell! I chal- 
lenge thee: summon logic and metaphysics to thy 
aid, and see if thou canst forge a weapon that shall 
batter down this massive pillar^of our holy religion, 
grind it to powder, and sweep it from the face of 
the earth! 0 thou spirit of darkness, for once thou 
art vanquished ! Thou canst not, thou darest not, 
assert the absolute, universal unreliability of human 
testimony. Audacious and brazen-faced as thou 
art, thou wilt not give the lie to these thousands of 
earth's purest and best. Nor canst thou question 
the veracity of consciousness. Truth-hater as thou 
art, fabricator of lies though thou hast always been, 
thou hast never yet had the temerity to attack this 
stronghold of knowledge, this citadel of wisdom. 
That consciousness is competent to testify concern- 
ing all that takes place within the range of its vision, 
and that it never testifies falsely, these are truths 
which thou darest not assail. Hence, O thou peace- 
. destroying emanation from the bottomless pit, I say, 
thou art vanquished! If the testimony of these 
hosts of Christian witnesses is unimpeachable, and 
if their consciousness testifies truly concerning their 
mental states, then the attainability of a joyful assur- 
ance of divine favor in this life is established on a foun- 
dation as firm as the pillars of the universe. 

So reasons many an honest inquirer after truth, 
many a sincere seeker of salvation; and soon he 



30 The Philosophy of Methodism. 



"also is among the prophets/' mingling his voice 
with theirs, singing lustily, 

My God is reconciled, His pardoning voice I hear, 
He owns me for his child, I can no longer fear. 

Thus the arch is constructed, the chasm is bridged; 
the isolated pillars of truth, reared in your sight, are 
brought into vital connection, and the logical struct- 
ure that stands before you, in solid masonry, is one 
over which unnumbered hosts of truth - loving, 
peace-seeking souls have traveled from those murky 
regions where Legalism marshals, and drills, and 
drives, his servile forces, under the dark, dismal 
clouds of doubt and fear, to that bright shore where 
the sun of assurance is ever above the horizon, 
chasing all clouds away, and pouring into every 
chamber, and nook, and corner, and cranny, of the 
soul, a ceaseless flood of light and blessedness. 
Methodism owes her success, in a very large meas- 
ure, to her constant proclamation and powerful em- 
phasis of this doctrine of assurance. I do not claim 
for our Church a monopoly of this doctrine at the 
present day. I rejoice to know that it is now con- 
stantly proclaimed from ten thousand pulpits in 
other Communions. But in the beginning it was 
not so. When Methodism was born, with a smile 
on her face and a song in her mouth, this doctrine 
of assurance was a terra incognita with scarcely an 
inhabitant save a handful of Moravians, who were 
unable to develop its rich, varied, and magnificent 
resources. I have already shown that the deepest- 
felt want of every truly awakened soul is an assur- 
ance of the favor of God. Well, Methodism, by 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 



31 



her vivid and powerful presentations of " the terrors 
of the law/ 5 awoke men from their spiritual slum- 
ber, and then held out to them the cup of a present, 
conscious, blissful salvation. It was like offering 
bread to the hungry, or water to the thirsty. What 
light is to the eye, or air to the lungs, that the doc- 
trine of assurance is to the awakened sinner. 

No natural adaptation is more exquisite, no divine 
provision for human want more perfect. For thir- 
teen long years John Yv 7 esley preached, and did all 
manner of evangelistic work, with a singleness of 
purpose, a self-denying consecration of life, an un- 
flinching boldness, and an untiring zeal, such as the 
world has rarely seen; and yet, during all this time, 
his ministry was almost fruitless. So soon, howev- 
er, as his day of Pentecost had come, and the doc- 
trine of assurance had become the burden of his 
preaching, immediately fruits were visible every- 
where. Vast multitudes flocked to his ministry, 
and that of his co-laborers, hungry for the bread of 
life. Thousands found the priceless pearl of con- 
scious salvation. Methodist societies sprang up as 
if by magic. The Anglican and the Dissenting 
Churches felt the pulsations of true spiritual life, 
British Protestantism was revitalized, and " a nation 
was born in a day." 

Thus we have seen that the first great cause of 
the wonderful success of Methodism is: Her dear 
insight into the wants of man, and the divine provision 
for those wants. 

But this is not the only cause, for, as I have al- 
ready stated, other Churches have, for years past, 



32 The Philosophy of Methodism. 



constantly proclaimed this doctrine of assurance, 
and yet their success has been far less than that of 
Methodism. Why is this? Simply because this 
doctrine has been held in connection with other 
doctrines that neutralize its effect, and destroy its 
power. 

Methodism owes much of her success, in the sec- 
ond place, to her higher, grander y nobler \ more ration- 
al and more scriptural conceptions of the character of 
God. 

The grand fundamental truth in Methodist theol- 
ogy, the great central luminary that shines with un- 
earthly brilliancy in the sky of Methodist thought, 
is this : God is love. 

And by this we do not understand the Scriptures 
to mean that God is boundless love to a part of the 
human race, and fiendish hate to another part, but 
that his great benevolent heart throbs with more 
than parental affection for every son of Adam's 
race. Leaving out of the account a handful of the 
followers of Whitefield, Methodists have always pro- 
claimed an unlimited atonement, and the possibility of 
salvation for all men. On this point the language of 
Methodism has always been — 

Lord, I believe were sinners more 
Than sands upon the ocean-shore, 
Thou hast for all a ransom paid, 
For all a full atonement made. 

Against the doctrine of unconditional reprobation 
she has ever waged unrelenting war. And her suc- 
cess is largely owing to this fact. For man is so 
constituted that, be his life what it may, he cannot 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 33 



in his heart approve an act of atrocious injustice. 
Deep down in every human breast there is im- 
planted by our beneficent Creator, for wise and holy 
purposes, an innate sense of justice, which neither 
sin, nor death, nor the fires of perdition, can wholly 
exterminate. To that sense of justice God himself 
often appeals in Scripture for a vindication of his 
character and administration; as, for instance, when 
he says : "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? " 
And to this question man's sense of justice replies, 
as God intended that it should, with a most hearty 
and emphatic Yes. Hence the doctrine that God, 
from all eternity, consigned countless millions of the 
human race to the fires of an unending perdition, 
without giving them an interest in the atoning 
blood, or the possibility of escaping that fearful 
doom, is one which no man can believe until he has 
manacled reason, and crucified his highest moral 
instincts.* The most capricious, cruel, sanguinary 



* I do not aim in the above remark to depreciate in the 
least the moral character of those who hold to this dogma 
even in its baldest form. When I say of the Calvinist that 
"he has manacled reason, and crucified his highest moral in- 
stincts," I do not mean that he has no reason, and is destitute 
of moral instincts, but that he does not take counsel of his 
reason, or his moral sensibilities, or allow them to influence 
him in the least, in the determination of questions of this 
character. His soul, with all its powers, is bowed in meek 
submission to his creed. I might give numerous extracts 
from the ablest Calvinistic writers, in which they strenuously 
deny that the dicta of human reason and conscience consti- 
tute a proper criterion by which to judge of any act or attri- 
bute of Deity. Here "we part company," but part in love. 
2* 



34 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 



deities of pagan mythology are not more abhorrent 
to all our moral sensibilities than such a God. 
Hence, Methodism, proclaiming constantly her lofty, 
rational, and scriptural conceptions of the character 
of God, has ever occupied a vantage-ground. And 
through her instrumentality, mainly, the dogma of 
unconditional reprobation has been almost banished 
from the earth. Every well-informed man knows 
that a few decades ago this dogma was constantly 
and boldly proclaimed from ten thousand pulpits 
throughout all Christendom. Now, although it is 
not exactly dead, yet it is enshrouded — wrapped in 
its winding-sheet, and buried in creeds, and in pon- 
derous, dust-covered tomes of theology — and only now 
and then does it stalk forth, show its ghastly coun- 
tenance, and lift up its faint, feeble, and sepulchral 
voice in some obscure pulpit in some dark corner 
of the world. Methodism is the young, ruddy- 
cheeked stripling who, with a sling and a few peb- 
bles from the brook of truth, smote the huge, old, 
mail-covered warrior, and laid him low in the dust. 
Some Churches I wot of owe much of the success 
they have had in recent years to the fact that they 
have constructed in a dark, unfrequented spot, a 
charnel-house called " Confession of Faith" in which 
they have laid away this unsightly spawn of the 
dark ages, bound hand and foot, to take a Hip Van 
Winkle slumber. Had these Churches continued to 

All through life some of my warmest personal friends have 
been rigid Calvinists, and to-day some of the ripest Christians 
within the circle of my acquaintance are of that faith. With 
a warm heart I love them, albeit I believe they are in error. 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 



35 



inscribe this "horrible decree" as Calvin calls it, upon 
their banners, and flaunt it in the face of the world, 
thousands of their purest and best members would 
Ions: since have swelled the ranks of Methodism. 

One feature of Methodist polity next demands at- 
tention. Any attempt at a Philosophy of Method- 
ism would be imperfect and incomplete without it. 
I refer, of course, to her 

ITINERANT SYSTEM. 

Xo Church without a pastor, no pastor without a 
flock. This is a consummation devoutly wished for 
by all denominations of Christians, but a consum- 
mation realized only in Methodism. Casting an 
eye over the broad domain of Protestant Christen- 
dom, every true Christian heart is saddened with 
the melancholy spectacle of thousands of pastorless 
Churches and thousands of flockless pastors. I say 
saddened, because every attentive observer of passing 
events knows that it is impossible for any Church 
to maintain its efficiency, or preserve the esprit &e 
corps of its membership, without pastoral oversight. 
As well might an army expect to maintain discipline, 
and preserve its morale, in the absence of any recog- 
nized head. 

Except in case of death, or some such unforeseen 
contingency, which no human sagacity can possibly 
provide against, no Methodist Church is without a 
pastor for one single moment. And how much of 
her wonderful efficiency and unparalleled prosperity 
is due to this uninterrupted continuity of pastoral over- 
sight is a problem which no man can solve. More- 



86 



The Philosophy of Methodism. . 



over, our itinerant system is a tower of strength to 
our Church in its clock-work rotation of pastors. 

It prevents, as far as legislation can, or ought to, 
prevent, that bane of Church vitality, ministerial 
secularization, and contributes immeasurably to the 
maintenance of the spirit of true apostolic evangel- 
ism in all its freshness and vigor. It distributes the 
best talent of the Church over the widest possible 
area, and bestows upon each individual society the 
priceless benefaction of a wide diversity of ministe- 
rial gifts. No man, however highly endowed, has 
sufficient versatility to meet all the wants of any 
Church. " There are diversities of gifts." One has 
great power in the pulpit, but is lamentably deficient 
in administrative ability; another is a very medio- 
cre preacher, but more than atones for his lack in 
this respect by his judiciousness in the exercise of 
pastoral functions and prerogatives; one excels in 
lucid exposition, another in pungent exhortation; 
one wields " the terrors of the law " as his most ef- 
fective weapon, another finds his greatest success in 
portraying the matchless tenderness of the Father's 
love in its manifold aspects; one charms the imag- 
ination, another stirs the conscience; one appeals 
to the reason, and through that seeks to sway the 
will; another plays upon the sensibilities as the 
skillful musician does upon the keys of an instru- 
ment ; one is strongly argumentative, another sweet- 
ly persuasive; one deals in tropes, another in syllo- 
gisms; the speech of one sparkles with wit, that of 
another overflows with tender pathos; one in his 
impassioned eloquence resembles the rush and roar 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 37 



of a mountain-torrent, or the Niagara-thunder of a 
mighty cataract; another the ripple of a forest- 
shaded streamlet, or the melodious murmur of a 
majestic, smoothly-flowing river; one is symbolized 
by the fall of an avalanche, or the sweep of a torna- 
do; another by the noiseless descent of the crystal 
snow-flake, or the rustle of a zephyr among the 
leaves of autumu; one, like a common forest-bird, 
never rises above the tree -tops; another, like the 
condor, strong of wing and bold of heart, soars 
above the olouds, above the sunlit, snow-clad sum- 
mits of earth's loftiest mountain-peaks, and sustains 
himself at pleasure in those empyreal heights; one 
arouses the sinner, another comforts the mourner, 
and binds up the broken-hearted; one adds numbers 
to the Church, another increases its zeal and effi- 
ciency. Now, our wise Creator has bestowed these 
infinitely-diversified gifts upon his ministers because 
the Church has need of them all; and inasmuch as no 
one minister unites in himself all these multiform 
excellences, it follows that that Church which has, 
during a whole generation, the benefit of only one 
man's ministry, will necessarily have its real strength 
and vitality only partially developed. As a rule, 
the fullest and most symmetrical development of 
ecclesiastical power is attained by means of a judi- 
cious rotation of pastors. 

I speak of a judicious rotation. But how exceed- 
ingly difficult it is to secure a judicious rotation 
under any system which provides for change only 
by means of a congregational call! How little can 
be learned of a pastor's efficiency through the me- 



38 The Philosophy of Methodism. 



dium of a trial-sermon, or a flying visit ! How hard 
it is for the Church to find the man it needs! and 
when he is found, how often is it the case that he 
cannot be had! And, then, how much friction at- 
tends the working of this machinery! How often 
is a retiring pastor's heart deeply wounded! And 
how frequently are the majority and the minority 
arrayed against each other in a deadly antagonism 
which is fatal to all real ecclesiastical prosperity! 
No such friction attends the working of our ma- 
chinery. No system ever devised on earth comes 
so near providing every Church with the pastor it 
needs, and giving every pastor the field best adapted 
to his capabilities — the field in which he can be 
most useful. 

How strange it is that just as the inestimable ben- 
efits of our rotary system are beginning to be appre- 
ciated by all other denominations of Christians, 
there is heard in our Own ranks a faint clamor for 
an unlimited pastorate, which means, of course, a 
settled ministry! Should we ever allow fastidious 
laj^men and ease-loving pastors to steer our gallant 
old Methodistic ship into that port, " Ichabod" may 
be written on our walls. We must not appropriate 
the threadbare attire of others — Saul's armor won't 
fit David. 

I do not deal in panegyric, extravaganza, or hy- 
perbole, but utter the deliberate opinion of thousands 
of intelligent, wide-awake Christians, of all Com- 
munions, when I say that, as an agency for the 
rapid propagation of the gospel — the wide-spread 
dissemination of its truths — no ecclesiastical ma- 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 



39 



chinery ever constructed on earth is at all compara- 
ble to the Methodist itinerant system. 

Methodism does not wait until men have become 
pious, and banded themselves together for purposes 
of worship, and built a house of worship, and raised 
a salary, and called a preacher; but she sends a 
preacher in advance of a salary, or a church in ad- 
vance of civilization itself. She, more fully than any 
other member of the ever-widening sisterhood of 
Churches, seems to have realized the full import of 
the last solemn charge that fell from the lips of the 
God-man as he began his triumphant ascent to the 
skies. 

Methodism, soon after the hour of her birth, 
has sometimes presented herself to my imagination 
as an ans:el standing in reverent attitude, listening 
to the words that come reverberating along down 
the corridors of time from the lips of her incarnate 
Lord; and as she listens, that last solemn message 
falls with wonderful emphasis upon her ear; and 
one word in that message makes an ineffaceable 
impression upon her heart. That word is only a 
monosyllable — Go. Having caught this part of the 
message, she replies, "To whom must I go? Must 
I go to the great metropolitan city, the emporium 
of commerce, the center of wealth, and learning, 
and refinement, and civilization, and science, and 
art? " And the answer comes back from the Son of 
man, speaking through the telephone of revelation, 
" Go there, but go elsewhere also. Go, not only where 
profligacy puts on the robes of respectability, and 
walks forth with haughty mien to receive homage 



40 The Philosophy of Methodism. 



from the sons of men, but go also to those haunts 
where 

Vice is a monster of such frightful mien, 
As, to be hated, needs but to be seen. 

Go 9 not only to the populous city, but go also to 
the sparsely-settled rural regions. Go to the very 
outskirts of civilization;, yea, go beyond the con- 
fines of civilization. Go 

To Greenland's icy mountains, 

To India's coral strand, 
Where Afric's sunny fountains 

Roll down their golden sand — 
The heathen in his blindness 

Bows down to wood and stone. 

Go wherever there is a soul unsaved, wherever there 
is a son of Adam that has never heard of redeem- 
ing grace and a Saviour's dying love. In short, O 
Methodism, thou swift-winged angel of light, go 
preach my gospel to every creature!" And Method- 
ism replies, " Yes, divine Master, I will go Into all 
the world; but vihat did you say I must preach?" 
And the Lord of glory replies, " Go preach the 
gospel" "And what is the gospel?" "The gospel 
is good news." "And what is the good news?" 
" The good news is that God is love" "Yes, blessed 
Master, I will proclaim that God is love; but is not 
that love partial and limited? Does God love all 
men?" And the answer comes back with all the 
emphasis that a God can give it: "As I live I have 
no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the 
wicked turn from his way and live. God so loved 
the world — the whole world — that he gave his only- 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 41 



begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might 
not perish, but have everlasting life/ 5 

Again Methodism inquires, "But what of the re- 
wards of faith? Shall I tell men only of a reward 
beyond the grave? or shall I also offer them some 
'pearl of great price' in this world?' 3 And with 
trumpet-tongue the great Teacher replies, "Go, thou 
divinely - commissioned messenger of mercy, and 
offer to earth's benighted sons not only a future, 
but also a present, salvation — a salvation from the 
guilt, and power, and dominion of sin — a salvation 
from all doubt of God's love and fear of his wrath. 
Proclaim in their ears these words of Holy Writ: 
6 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the wit- 
ness in himself/ Tell them not only of a glorious 
4 recompense of reward' in 

that sun-bright clime, 
Un dimmed by sorrow, unhurt by time, 

but tell them also of a 'joy unspeakable and full 
of glory/ attainable in this life/'* 

Having understood the full import of her Lord's 
command, she plumed her wings, and began her 
evangelistic flight; and since then she has been the 
brightest and most perfect embodiment the world 
ever saw of " the beloved disciple's '' Apocalyptic vis- 
ion of " an angel flying having the everlasting gospel 
to preach to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, 
and people/*' She has almost engirdled the world 
with her trophies of Messiah's conquest. To-day, in 
almost every land, her voice is heard high above the 
din of business, the shout of pleasure, the roar of 
tempest, and the shock of battle, proclaiming these 



42 The Philosophy of Methodism. 



two glorious truths : the boundlessness and universal- 
ity of divine love, and the possibility of man's living in 
a blissful state of conscious salvation. Yes, to-day, 
wherever a division, or brigade, or regiment, or 
company, or squadron, of the great Methodistic 
army of the Lord of hosts is found, there is held 
aloft the blood-stained banner of the cross; and as 
it floats upon the morning breeze, or waves its crim- 
son folds amid the resplendent glories of the noon- 
day, the sons of men, gazing upon it, may behold, 
written in characters of living light, by the hand of 
God himself, these two inscriptions: "God is love" 
and "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the wit- 
ness in himself" 

In view of all these facts, who can deny that the 
mission of Methodism is a Heaven-appointed one? 
John Wesley was the spiritual Morse w T ho pointed 
out to the modern world the electric line along 
w T hich proclamations of pardon and messages of 
love might come with more than telegraphic speed 
from the heart of God to the soul of man. John 
Wesley was the Columbus who, in spite of numer- 
ous obstacles and formidable difficulties, made his 
way across the tempestuous sea of scriptural exege- 
sis to a broad and fertile continent of truth, and 
then spent the remainder of his life in constructing 
the great Methodistic Ship of Zion, in order that it 
might transport countless thousands of the human 
race to that goodly land. John Wesley was the 
modern Moses who walked out into the wilderness 
of this world, and, in obedience to divine command, 
lifted up his hand and smote the rock of Scripture, 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 43 



in order that there might gush forth a crystal stream 
that should flow along down the ages, and slake the 
thirst of countless millions of the human race. 

John Wesley stood beside the grave where the 
dead Lazarus of true spiritual Christianity lay 
enshrouded in its gorgeous robes of state, and 
entombed amid Albion's costly shrines, and, in obe- 
dience to the divine mandate, he uttered the life- 
giving words, "Gome forth!" and immediately the 
lifeless corpse stood upon its feet, put off its grave- 
clothes of form, and ceremony, and ritualism, put 
on the new garment of praise to God, and walked 
forth into the world, and entered upon a career of 
activity and conquest unknown since the age of 
rushing winds, and fiery tongues, and Pentecostal 
effusions of heavenly power. 

What unprejudiced Christian, of any denomina- 
tion, who is at all conversant with the ecclesiastical 
history of the eighteenth century, can fail to see 
that John Wesley was specially endowed by nature, 
trained by Providence, and called of God, for the 
one work of rekindling the flames of vital godli- 
ness, and revivifying and rejuvenating the dead 
Churches of the Protestant world? 

You will understand the philosophy of Methodism 
only when you regard it as 

A DIVINE PROVISION FOR HUMAN WANT. 

Vegetation is not more certainly a divine provis- 
ion for the sustentation of animal life. Striking its 
roots deep into the soil of every land, spreading its 
branches under every sky, and holding its rich, 



44 The Philosophy of Methodism. 



golden clusters of luscious fruitage within the reach 
of "all the wretched sons of want/' the stately, 
majestic tree of Methodism is not a native terres- 
trial plant, but a rare exotic transplanted from the 
groves of Eden, by the hand of God himself, " for 
the healing of the nations." 

Moreover, this plant of heavenly origin can never 
die; its flowers shall never fade; its branches never 
wither; its foliage never fall. I speak now, of 
course, of the principles — the essence — of Method- 
ism, not its form. For aught I know, the time may 
come, in the course of a few thousands, or millions, 
of centuries, when there shall be no Church on earth 
called the Methodist Church. But, if so, it will be 
w^hen her God-given mission is accomplished, when 
all the Churches in the world shall not only pro- 
claim from their pulpits, but incorporate into their 
creeds, the glorious truths of the boundless, universal 
love of God, and the possibility of a present conscious, 
blissful salvation. 

And this her work of regenerating creeds and 
purging theology is hastening its consummation. 
Wafted upon every breeze, the pollen from the 
flowers of this fair tree of life is impregnating every 
ecclesiastical plant that grows in God's terrestrial 
garden, and gradually changing the character of its 
foliage, fruits, and flowers. Thus, though her body 
should die, her spirit shall live on and live ever. 

Without metaphor, and without exaggeration, I 
believe, as firmly as I believe in my own existence, 
that the God of heaven will see to it, that the great 
principles which Methodism to-day represents shall 



The Philosophy of Methodism. 45 



live as long as the world shall stand, and that this 
handful of heavenly leaven shall diffuse itself 
throughout the whole lump of Christian thought 
and Christian life. 

Moreover, these fundamental principles of Meth- 
odism are not circumscribed within the boundaries 
of time, or limited to the denizens of this mundane 
sphere. Emanating from God, they are, like God 
himself, eternal, immutable, and universal. Heaven, 
no less than earth, needs to know that God is love, 
and that all his obedient children, in all places of 
his dominion, are entitled to a personal assurance of 
his favor. 

These great truths constitute the soil into which 
all the celestial beatitudes strike their roots. They 
are the burden of angelic song, the theme of seraphic 
eloquence. Each heavenly harper strikes his high- 
est, sweetest notes when these truths inspire his breast. 
Behold yon archangel, robed in celestial splendor, 
his countenance aglow with beatific joy, his eye 
beaming with grateful love — now basking in the 
sunlight that streams from the eternal throne — now 
plucking ambrosial fruits from the tree of life — now 
joining a band of heavenly choristers in some grand 
anthem of praise — now rushing with lightning- 
speed, in obedience to divine behest, on some mission 
of mercy. He is' the incarnation of joy — the very 
embodiment of creature -blessedness. But, destroy 
his faith in the All-Father's boundless love, convince 
him that an omnipotent demon sits on the throne 
of the universe, rob him of his personal assurance 
of divine favor, and you uproot and sweep away all 



46 The Philosophy of Methodism. 



his joys, you envelop his soul with the mists of 
doubt and the midnight gloom of despair, you par- 
alyze his energies, his wing drops by his side, and 
he stands motionless as a statue, pale as death, and 
miserable as hell. Thus it is seen that these two 
great luminaries that flame and glow in the sky of 
Methodist theology are destined to survive " the 
wreck of matter and the crush of worlds/' if any 
such catastrophe should ever occur, and to shine on 
with undiminished luster " when time shall be no 
more." 

Methodism, then, in her great f undamental principles, 
is as universal as the presence of God, as old as the cre- 
ation of " the morning-stars," and as imperishable as 
the throne on which Jehovah sits! 



THE END. 



THE CRYSTAL SPRINGS CAMP -MEETING 



is held annually at Henington Camp - ground, Crystal 
Springs, Copiah county, Mississippi, commencing on Thurs- 
day night preceding the Sunday before the first full moon 
in August, and closing on the ninth day afterward. The 
Anniversary Address is delivered on Monday of the meet- 
ing, at 11 a.m. I. V. Enochs, 



Sec. C. M. Association. 






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